Akane Shihōin
:"One step closer to the forgotten dream." - Shadow Rage Akane Shihōin (四枫院のア カネ, Shihōin Akane) also known as Suzume (スズメ, Sparrow) is a female shinigami and current captain of the 2nd Division of the Gotei 13, as well as the commander of the Onmitsukidō. She is the 24th head of the Shihōin Clan, one of the four great noble families. She is known throughout the Soul Society for her bravery and great beauty; and is regarded as one of the strongest female captains of her generation. She is currently one of the most famous and well known captains serving the Gotei 13, known for her exploits as well as for being the current leader of the Shihoin Family. She is known by the moniker Crimson Flash (真紅の寸秒, Shinku no sunbyō) due to her awesome speed and skills in flash step. She is also currently one of the main supporting protagonists in Shadow Rage's Bleach - Generation III story Bleach - Chronicles of the Soul and as such has an important role to play for the events to come. Appearance Akane is a tall, beautiful young woman with the appearance of a woman in her mid to late 20's. She has long black hair, with grey eyes and a slender build. Many people consider her to be attractive or even beautiful. Akane's appearance has caused several people, including Aoko Sonozaki, to notice a similarity to Yoruichi Shihōin; the former head of the Shihoin Clan and her greataunt. Her standard attire consists of a backless, black sleeveless undershirt, a cream colored over-shirt with two grey straps on each shoulder, a large beige sash around her waist, black stretch pants and long beige wrist warmers, secured by bands, and long beige leg warmers with dark brown shoes, allowing for stealth and easy use of Shunpo. She also sometimes wears a beige neck warmer, which she will pull up to cover her face in order to hide her identity,which makes it easy for infiltration. As a captain, she wears the same sleeveless and backless Onmitsukidō uniform, with long black wrist guards, and a grey scarf around her neck. She also wears a long-sleeved captain's haori. Personality Akane is intelligent, strong, and sexy. She is known for her compassionate and cheerful nature, but at times can also be strict and stern. She often criticizes bad behavior and habits of others, causing most people to apologize for the fear that they might invoke her wrath. She can be a very mature, calm, and level-headed individual when the situation calls for it. Akane is also quite intelligent, aware of dangers she faces every day and has a much better understanding of the world and its more dangerous individuals (ex. the arrancars) and also has knowledge on some of the other powerful figures in soul society (ex. the captains). She also has intimate knowledge of the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the human world and their workings. She has a great sense of justice, always willing to help those in needs and do what ever it takes to protect innocent people from harm and danger. As a captain of the Gotei 13, as well as the commander of the Onmitsukidō, she has shows great loyalty and dedication towards the soul society and its people. Akane has shown herself to be very manipulative and deceptive during battle. In battle she is absolutely ruthless shedding her cheerful and kind personality with the intent of defeating her enemy. She will beat her enemy within an inch of their life but with not strike the final blow as she believes that’s as a warrior it is not right to take a persons life whoever they maybe, and as such will defeat an opponent without killing them. Using a combination of deception and battle strategy, she usually takes the necessary steps required to exploit an opponent’s strength's and weakness against them and uses it in her favor. Even in the face of danger she is not one to show concern and is seen smiling with excitement when in the heat of battle. As a member of the Onmitsukidō she enjoys fighting against strong opponents. Although she is of noble birth, she doesn't acts like someone from the noble house and is very much different from most other nobles. She will associate with people of non-noble stature such as her long time friend and fellow former captain Takashi Kosuda. She doesn't like it when someone refers to her using honorific suffixes, and prefers to be treated as an equal. Despite being calm, mature and strict during most of the time, Akane has a more feminine and playful side to her personality, She secretly enjoys reading fantasy novels and has an obsession with fashion, as she is never seen wearing the same clothes for too long. She is also one of the more compassionate captains of the gotei 13, who is fast to show sympathy to others and shows much understanding of and insight into feelings. She is even willing to forgive the people who have hurt or betrayed her. She seems to be respectful of others and is willing to listen to what they have to say before making any judgment or decision. Akane also can be very flirtatious, as she considers her long time friend and former partner Takashi Kosuda to be very good looking. When they first met each after several years in the human world, she started to flirt with him and Takashi too wasn’t bothered by her advances, taking a slight interest in her, much to the annoyance of his girlfriend Touko Sonozaki. Akane also has a rivalry with Touko due to their similar personality and traits. Akane is also very confident in her appearance and sexiness, exuding a certain amount of vanity and doesn't seem to have much modesty as she sometimes wears rather skimpy and revealing clothing. History Coming Soon....... Powers & Abilities Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Akane as Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō is one of the most accomplished hand-to hand combatants in Soul Society. Her mastery of the art form is so great that she is able to fight against opponents physically much larger in size as well as several armed opponents. She has been shown to take down even lieutenant level shinigami with only Hakuda. Her skills in Hakuda allows her to fight against the likes of Espada-level Arrancar as when she brutally defeated Ulises Jaquares and is even regarded by the 3rd Espada Socorro Herrera as highly dangerous. She can use her Hakuda skills to block incoming attacks sufficiently as well as counter attack within a matter of seconds. She has trained most of her life in the art of hand to hand combat, and has reached to a point where she can fight against high level hand to hand combatants without much difficulty. Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: While preferring to fight barehanded most of the time, Akane has shown herself to be highly proficient in swordsmanship, as she was capable of using her sealed zanpakuto to take down several Gillian class and Adjuchas class hollows with relative ease. She also used her sealed zanpakuto to fight against the 3rd espada Socorro Herrera without much difficultly and was able to keep up with her despite the espada being proficient swords-woman as well. She will only use her Zanpakutō when she faces against a much tougher opponent with a drawn weapon or as a last resort. She is also quite adept at blocking with her blade. Flash Step Master: Considered to be the most proficient Hohō master in all of the Soul Society, Akane is highly skilled in the use of Shunpo, which allows her to move with high speed movement. Though this is by no means a unique skill, as most seated officers are capable of performing it to various degrees, because she has mastered this ability to such an extent that she can appear to be in several places at once and wipe out an entire horde of hollows within a matter of seconds. She can use her skills to easily close tremendous gaps of distance within herself and her opponent in the blink of an eye, and can even use her skill to remain undetected, as she was able to surprise the like of Takashi Kosuda, her former partner and a proficient flash step master. She has mastered a variety of the Onmitsukidō's speed-oriented techniques, such as Utsusemi (空蝉; cicada, referencing their molting). The full extents of her abilities remain unclear, but she was able to outrun Socorro Herrera while carrying an unconscious shinigami over her shoulder. She is so fast that the 3rd espada Socorro had difficulty keeping up with her movements for a significant amount of time. Even a lieutenant level shinigami could barely keep up her, while she was still holding back. She is highly proficient in evasion in close quarters as well as from a distance. *'Utsusemi' (空蝉; Cicada, referencing their molting): Way of Onmitsu, 3rd of the Shihou. It allows for a movement at great speed, leaving at least one tangible after-image behind. Enhanced Strength: Despite her slender and feminine figure, Akane is quite strong capable of easily catching a direct punch from Ulises Jaquares an arrancar of much larger stature, and simultaneously throw him several feet away. She is also capable of lifting large slabs of concrete debris that she was buried under with little or no effort and made a large crater on the ground with a simple punch. Akane has shown that with enough concentration she can increase the strength of her blows to highly destructive levels, as she was capable of destroying an entire city block. Enhanced Durability: Akane is highly durable, as she was able to take on multiple energy blasts head on and also sustain being kicked into buildings with enough force to go through walls and bring whole sections down on top of her while attaining no apparent injury. Master Assassin: As the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, Akane is one of the foremost masters of the art of assassination. She has repeatedly shown impressive skill in staying hidden and unseen. When necessary, she can effectively exploit having a advantage against an opponent or hiding her presence. Even one as intuitive as Kirei Satoshi was completely taken by surprise and just as easily subdued. Using Flash Steps, she can disable opponents without them being aware of her presence, as she did did during her battle with the 3rd espada Socorro. Master Strategist & Tactician: As the head of the Shihōin Clan and Commander of the Onmitsukidō, Akane has shown herself to be a capable leader. Repeatedly, Akane has shown to be insightful and crafty, quickly capable of understanding any situation that presents itself and adjust to it effectively. Akane has shown an innate skill to determine what actions should be taken in battle. The tactics she employs are based on subterfuge and confusion. She has shown to be adept in putting her opponents into a false sense of security and allowing them to underestimate her abilities. A common tactic of hers is to gauge the opponent's strengths and weaknesses in the middle of combat. Kidō Expert: As captain of the 2nd Division and the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, Akane is well-versed in a mastery of Kidō. Though she commonly employs Shunpo and hand-to-hand fighting techniques, she is experienced enough that she is able to mix it with other hand-to-hand combat techniques. She has been shown using mid-level binding and destruction spells with no incantation with expert skill. :Shunkō (瞬閧, Flash Cry): An advanced technique that combines hand-to-hand combat with Kidō. She fights by surrounding her back and arms with pressurized Kidō. The keisen uniform has no back or sleeves since they will rip apart when it is activated. What is known of it so far, is that it can allow her to instantly neutralize an opponent's movement. Akane's version of the technique was developed and studied by her a century ago with help from her mother Hinata grandaunt Yoruichi. Therefore, the technique is complete. :Hanki (反鬼, Reverse Demon): This technique is an ability Akane can use during Shunkō, which nullifies an opponent's Kidō by hitting it with a Kidō of perfectly opposite speed and energy. The ability can even neutralize an opponent's movements. Immense Spiritual Power: As captain of the second division and head of the Shihōin Clan, Akane boasts a great amount of spiritual energy. Her spiritual energy is great enough to act as a shield from fairly powerful attacks, as seen from blocking a powerful cero blast from Erizo Thunderwitch a Privaron class espada with a single hand. While using Shunkō, her concentrated spiritual power becomes far greater than normal. The color of her reiatsu is golden yellow. Zanpakutō Hibiki (響き, Sound): In its sealed state it takes the form of a regular katana with a light red handle and octagonal hand-guard. It is carried from a string wrapped around her belt in an iaidō style, and worn with the edge down like a tachi instead of the edge up like a katana. The end of the hilt has a grey tassel. *'Shikai': Akane's Shikai is triggered by the command Resonate (共振, kyōshin). When released, spiritual energy swirl around Akane, and then around Hibiki. It then transforms her sealed zanpakuto into a combat knife with a black guard and red hilt. :Shikai Special Ability: In this form, Akane has demonstrated the ability to manipulate pre-existing sound or generate sound waves used for mainly attacking. Her zanpakuto serves as a sort of sound generator, which is able to perform a series of functions, including the projection of intense high-volume sonic waves and blasts of concussive force and produce low level sound wave to slightly disable an opponent. By absorbing sound waves from the surrounding area she is able to mimic and distort noise, replicate frequencies, and create sonic blasts of devastating proportions. Akane's main use of her zanpakuto ability consists of creating powerful sonic waves capable of blasting her opponents away, stunning or even at times even killing them, especially if the sound waves are concentrated or infused with spiritual energy. However, she can control the potency and frequency of the sound waves, which allows her to project or generate different types of sound that can either overload the hearing of anyone within the vicinity or knock them out without seriously harming them or can cause severe headaches which can be used as a distraction. She can even direct her sonic wave at specific parts of the body, such as the arm which can break if a strong enough vibration is produced or the inner ear labyrinth, which can cause nausea and imbalance on her opponents. Akane seems to be immune against her own attacks, but it is unknown if this resistance also applies against other sound sources. Extremely high-power sound waves can break through an opponent’s defense and can also be used to cause severe pain or disorientation. This is usually sufficient to incapacitate a person. She can use various sound frequencies to create a variety of effects, such as producing a low frequency sound wave that causes vibration of the eyeballs and therefore distorts an opponent’s vision, this causes the opponent to see things that aren't there such as, a vague glimpse of a grey apparition, and this can be used as an effective distraction. *'Bankai': Tenkai Hibiki (天界の響き, Heavenly Sound) Akane will hold her Zanpakutō up in front of her horizontally and calls out bankai. The Zanpakutō glows with a brilliant light and then the glow of light will intensify into a huge burst of spiritual energy that greatly affects the surrounding vicinity. When released, Hibiki transforms from a single combat knife into a pair of flash gauntlets and greaves that Akane wears in each hand and feet. The gauntlets and greaves are black in color with white marking all over them. It is considered completely out of the ordinary for any Zanpakutō. Unlike most Bankai forms, which usually create some sort of massive creature or effect. The gauntlets and greaves are exceptionally durable, capable of enduring even the strongest of attacks, making it quite effective in blocking and deflecting incoming attacks; it can even withstand getting crushed by force. They are also capable of protecting the wearer's limbs even during the moment of their destruction. :Bankai Special Ability: Tenkai Hibiki, much like its Shikai form, is used heavily for hand to hand or close quarter combat, but also possess certain special abilities. In bankai all of her natural and physical abilities are further enhanced. *'Enhanced Sound abilities': In bankai form all of her sound related abilities are further enhanced, she has better control of her sound waves and is able to produced destructive sound waves without much difficulty. Her gaunlets allow her to better control and channel various sonic waves at different frequencies; her gauntlets are a much better sound generator than her previous shikai form. She can generate different types of sound from the palm of her hands and can also absorb sound better. Akane has shown to be capable of producing extremely powerful sonic waves. Not only is she capable of using her sonic blast to throw people and objects further away, but was even able to use her sonic wave to disintegrate skin and flesh off a low level arrancar when she used it at close range. During her battle with the 3rd espada Socorro Herrera she demonstrated the ability to create "cohesive sound". This is essentially an entangling/crushing construct that absorbs ambient noise to increase its size and strength. The noise from the target's struggles to remove the construct would make it larger and stronger. Socorro was only able to escape it by using an energy based attack of similar power and strength to match it. *'Enhanced Sense and Sonar': This aspect of her bankai is the by product of her sound based abilities, she is able to sense her surroundings using sonar and can hear sounds from short to long distance's, this allows her to detect an enemy's location as well as their presence, but in order to find an enemy she needs to move into a concentrated state of mind. Another ability that manifests itself is a sort of sixth sense which presents itself in a tingling vibration or feeling at the base of her skull, alerting her to personal danger in proportion to the severity of that danger. This ability works by detecting certain sound frequencies or changes in the air and sound, which allows her to detect an opponent’s incoming attack. Her senses have helped her in various situations, like when an opponent attacked her at point blank range, her sense has already warned her in the right nick time to get away. She is unable to use these abilities whenever she is distracted or fatigued which can lead to unawareness. *'Hyper-Speed Combat': Akane takes all the power from her Bankai and compresses it into a small, condensed form such as her flash gauntlets and greaves. She then uses the power of the Bankai to perform high-speed combat. Her new speed is great enough that it also enhances her Flash Step prowess which allows her to create dozens of afterimages to confuse his opponent. Category:Female Category:Captain Category:2nd Division Category:Character